Birdpaw knew that battles were horrible things to be in, with blood, death and yowling, but she never expected to be right in the middle of one. As the battle patrol Barkheart brought burst through the bushes, the apprentice stumbled forward, forgetting every bit of training she had. Cats were screeching and blood was splattering everywhere, with the first cats falling, never to rise again.

"Watch out Birdpaw!" came a voice and the apprentice spun away just in time to avoid Sparkclaw crashing into her as he chased after a rogue grey she-cat. The moment of spinning brought her back to her senses and she raced towards Clouddrop, helping to land a couple of blows on a ginger and white tom. Vineleaf came along to help and Birdpaw ran away as a huge brown tabby tom started landing blows on her head. She sprinted around a mound of tall twoleg objects, dirt flying from her paws. The huge tom, being huge, slipped and slid on the dirt, landing face-first and giving the young apprentice the opportunity to run away over to Dewpaw. The two apprentices dodged and ran around a cream and white she-cat, confusing her until she released Honeypaw from under her paws.

"Thanks," huffed the cream she-cat, before spinning around to her mentor. Dewpaw ran off to help Moonflower, who was struggling to defeat a black and white tom. Birdpaw let out gasps of air, her paws and legs hurting but adrenaline was still pulsing through her. She scanned the clearing for Maplestar, but the huge ginger tom was no where to be seen, which worried the young apprentice. She saw Whiskerstar fighting a black tom and calico she-cat, who were fighting ruthlessly. The apprentice bounded over to help and along with her mentor, they began to push the two rogues away into the human junk. The two rogues discovered that they wouldn't be able to beat the two Clan cats and with one last hiss, they spun around and ran.

"Good job," panted Whiskerstar, nodding to his apprentice before turning around and shoving a rogue over. Birdpaw spun around to Stagleap and tapped the rogue he was battling until the rogue was so confused, he let go of the deputy.

Many cats were laying on the ground, dead or badly injured, and as the apprentice felt bile rising in her mouth as she realized there was nothing she could do to help these dead or injured cats. Battles were horrible and Birdpaw wished that she wouldn't have to be in another one, ever, ever again.

As she looked around, the apprentice became increasingly worried about where Maplestar was, he was the one who requested this battle, surely, he wasn't letting his rogues do all the work. He would have to come out eventually, and according to her vision, he would come to find her. Then, it was like she summoned him with her thoughts, the huge ginger tom sliding out from bushes outlining the clearing. The rogue leader's eyes caught Birdpaw's eyes, and he launched at her with a loud yowl, knocking her down onto the dusty ground with a thump. The apprentice cried out in pain as all the breath was driven out of her, but she twisted onto her back and swiped her claws across Maplestar's face. He just snarled and swiped his claws across her exposed stomach, causing her to screech, but it also fueled her with anger, and she kicked at him with her back legs. The dark ginger tom grunted and released her, giving the apprentice the chance to heave herself to her paws and stand on shaky legs. Maplestar regained his balance but before he could rush at her, Whiskerstar rammed into him, just a grey blur. The two toms snarled, and the fight started at a whole new level, with the toms just a flurry of dark ginger and grey fur. Birdpaw stood nearby, catching her breath and watching the fierce fight at the same time. But as she continued watching, the more she wanting to jump in and stop the two leaders. It was easy to see that Maplestar was stronger and much bigger than Whiskerstar. The dark ginger tom also had more moons of training than the grey tabby leader, and this was definitely an advantage.

The two toms pulled apart, both panting hard, though Maplestar still had an evil glint in his amber eyes. Whiskerstar was tiring and Birdpaw felt herself becoming increasingly worried, and the other SpringClan cats in the clearing were as well, having stopped their fight to watch the two leaders. Maplestar lept at his former deputy with a savage yowl, catching the younger leader completely off-guard. Whiskerstar stumbled and landed on his side, giving the dark ginger tom a chance to dig his claws into the younger leader's side. Maplestar pulled, creating a huge gaping gap in the younger leader's side with blood pulsing rapidly out from the wound.

Whiskerstar let out a cry but it turned feeble, and he collapsed onto the ground with his bright red blood staining the ground. Birdpaw stared, her legs threatening to collapse as well as she watched her mentor freely bleeding, to weak to even raise his head. Maplestar spat on the leader and turned to look at Birdpaw, but before he could harm her, Dewpaw came flying in front of Maplestar. Before the dark ginger tom could even process what was going on, the cream tom swiped his paw across the leader's face, his claws cutting into one of Maplestar's amber eyes. The huge ginger tom roared out in pain as his blood splattered across the ground, before sprinting away into the bushes.

The former's leader's rogues looked around confused, unsure what to do, before they slowly began to vanish into the bushes. Some of them hissed at the SpringClan cats while others looked at the dead, before walking away. Dewpaw stared at where Maplestar had ran off before turning around to face Birdpaw.

"Are you okay?" he asked, but the young apprentice couldn't form words, looking over at her mentor. The grey tabby was barely breathing, with Flowerstem already huddling next to him, desperately layering on herbs and cobwebs, but the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

Birdpaw's brain went into cloudy-mode and she could barely remember anything else that happened after that moment. She vaguely remembered walking back to camp and she also remembered watching Stagleap and Vineleaf carry Whiskerstar back. But she didn't remember her mother's sympathy, she didn't remember seeing StarClan cats in the battle clearing, she didn't remember being in the medicine cat den, she didn't even remember when Chiveleaf told her that her leg was badly damaged. She was too tired, too sore, too depressed. 

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Hey there! thank you for reading the second book in the Rogue Traitor series. If you have any ideas of what the cover of the book could be, please post a comment down below! :) 

- SkyandStarlight